7 Hawai‘i Chefs and Restaurants Are 2024 James Beard Award Semifinalists

Here’s who made the first cut for the country’s highest culinary industry awards.

January 24, 2024

Mari Taketa,

James beard Award Medallion

Six Hawai‘i chefs and a bakery were among several hundred chefs, restaurants, bars and bakeries across the country that made the initial cut for the 2024 James Beard Foundation Awards. Today’s announcement included three first-timers from Hawai‘i: Bar Maze chef Ki Chung, Jeff Scheer of Marlow on Maui, and Nature Waikīkī’s Nae Ogawa, the sole woman.

The awards represent the highest U.S. nods to standouts in the food and beverage industry. Nominees are vetted during an anonymous, months-long process designed to recognize those creating “exceptional food, food media content, and better food systems, while demonstrating a commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive,” James Beard Foundation said in a statement.

The more than 400 semifinalists announced today will be whittled to a list of finalists on April 3. Winners will be revealed in June at James Beard’s annual awards ceremony in Chicago.

Hawai‘i’s semifinalists are:

Emerging Chef:

Ki Chung, Bar Maze

Outstanding Bakery:

Breadshop

Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific

Andrew Le, The Pig & the Lady
Nae Ogawa, Nature Waikīkī
Jason Peel, Nami Kaze
Jeff Scheer, Marlow, Pukalani, Maui
Sheldon Simeon, Tiffany’s, Wailuku, Maui

In 2022, Robynne Maii of Fête took home the award for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific, Hawai‘i’s first James Beard award in almost 20 years. Last year, 107-year-old Manago Hotel on Hawai‘i Island was one of six winners of the foundation’s 2023 America’s Classics Award. Also last year, Bar Leather Apron became the first Hawai‘i entity to win a national James Beard Award when it was named Outstanding Bar.